Only By Blood

"In a minute."

Eve didn't want to let go. It felt too good just to hold on, and to cling to her brother.

Mal didn't say anything about it again. They each just kind of lay there and felt their mutual breathing slow down.

"You still awake?" Eve asked softly.

Mal grunted. "Yeah."

"Am I keeping you up?"

"No. This is... nice."

"Good. We could switch if you want though."

Mal considered. "No," he eventually decided.

"No? Just no?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"You gonna make me say it?"

"Well I don't know what you--"

"I'll probably get hard," Mal said. "I wouldn't mean to. It's just... you know. Lying in bed with a girl. Things happen."

"I'm your sister."

"Only by blood."

"Hmph. Guess I am still a girl, huh?"

"That's been my understanding."

"But this is still ok?" Eve asked.

"Yeah. This is good."

"Ok."

****

Mal and Eve woke up in their own time the next morning. They remained entangled from the night, basically just the same as they'd gone to sleep.

Neither moved for a while, even when they realized the other was awake too. Any acknowledgement of that fact seemed like it would break a spell of some sort.

"One of us has to move eventually," Mal whispered.

"I don't know if that's true," Eve mumbled back.

"Well either that or it'll get real awkward when one of us pees the bed."

"Awkward for you maybe. You're the one who'll get the worst of it either way."

"That's how you wanna play this?"

"Not really. But I guess if peeing on you is the only way to establish dominance...."

Mal chuckled, then sighed and pulled out of Eve's embrace. He sat on the side of the bed for a moment, unmoving.

"I'm less comfy already," Eve said. "I don't know if I care for this."

"Me either."

"So lay back down for a few minutes."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

Mal sighed. "You know morning wood?"

Eve snorted softly. "I'm aware of it."

"Well I have some."

"Haha, really?"

"It's not that funny."

"It's a little funny."

"It's just a thing that happens," Mal stressed.

"I know. And it happened while you were sleeping with your sister," Eve explained patiently. "That's the funny part."

"Coincidence. Nothing more."

"Still funny though."

Mal narrowed his eyes, then slowly rotated around until the tent in his boxers faced toward Eve. Eve grinned at the evidence of his erection, then shrieked as he scooted closer to her.

"Still funny?" Mal asked lightly.

"Haha, ew, get that out of my face," Eve giggled, swatting at her brother.

"I thought you said it was funny."

"It is! But I don't want it in my face like that."

Mal scooted closer again. "Like this?"

Eve squealed and rotated around so she could kick at Mal. He grabbed at her ankles, though he couldn't manage to grip both at once and hold her still.

The two of them laughed and played up their standoff a little bit longer; Mal trying to shove his erection at Eve, and Eve trying to keep him at a distance. Neither particularly had an advantage, and they more or less had to settle with a stalemate.

"You should go... do your thing," Eve said. "Whatever it was."

"I was going to. You insisted I should come back to bed."

"Not if you're going to rub your penis all over me."

"That's certainly not what I'm going to do," Mal said.

"I know, because I'm kicking you out of bed."

"I was only sticking it your face a little. Very different from rubbing it all over you."

"Oh. My mistake then." Eve gave Mal a solid shove with her feet, and nearly sent him tumbling off the bed.

Mal laughed and staggered to his feet, off-balance for a moment before finding his footing. He pattered off to the bathroom while Eve just watched him go.

Once alone, and especially once he was in the shower, Mal looked down thoughtfully at his erection. It wasn't particularly going away on its own just yet. He might have to do something about it. And, in fact, he might really want to do something about it.

His eyes closed and he sighed involuntarily as he wrapped his hand around his cock. It wasn't just morning wood. He was horny. Really, really horny.

That was kind of a bad sign, in some ways. Eve was his sister. The feeling of her pressed up against him all night shouldn't be lingering so hard, and definitely shouldn't make him feel this way.

But it was fine. His body just didn't know any better. She was warm and feminine, and triggered some automatic reactions in him. That was all. Probably.

While Mal masturbated guiltily in the shower, Eve wasn't any much better off back in his bed. Almost as soon as he'd left, Eve had her hand down at her panties. She hadn't quite dared slip under her underwear just yet, but she was definitely feeling the urge.

The problem was she was still lying in his bed, and the faint scent of him was all around her. He lingered on the sheets, and on her body. She just wanted him back with her, cuddling more, being together. She wasn't even sure if she'd really wanted to fight him off as hard as she had. It had been playful, sure, but if he'd stuck his cock in her face, if she'd just let him....

No, that was bad. Mal was her brother. Only technically, perhaps, but this wasn't the same as just living with some guy. She couldn't be just getting horny over him on a whim.

She was horny, though. That wasn't going to be logicked away.

Eve slipped her fingers under her panties. She could just rub one out. It didn't have to mean anything. Just like Mal having morning wood. It might not even be related to the sleeping together thing. Might just be weird hormones going off.

She could kind of just explain it away as being the first time she'd slept in a real bed in a while. Sleeping on the couch just wasn't as conducive to playing with herself.

Eve rubbed herself, idly aware that she was on a timer of sorts. Mal would be back sooner or later, and she needed to be done by then. She didn't have any great sense of urgency though. She'd hear when the shower turned off, which would give her plenty of warning. She could make herself cum by then.

A while later, Mal finished jerking off in the shower and took his time drying off and getting back to his room. Eve was still lying in his bed, and at first he thought she'd fallen back asleep. She turned her head lazily to face him, indicating that she was, in fact, awake. She just wasn't in any hurry to move.

"Sleepy this morning or what?" Mal asked.

Eve shrugged. "It's nice being in a bed again."

"Even if you have to share it?"

"... I honestly kind of liked that part."

Mal flushed softly. "Yeah, me too."

****

Eve hummed to herself as she shelved books that morning. She didn't intend to be obnoxiously chipper, though in hindsight she most certainly was.

"What's got you so happy this morning?"

Eve turned around toward Anya, her coworker and someone she'd started to consider something of a friend lately.

"Oh nothing," Eve said.

"Nothing?"

"Well...."

Anya grinned. "It's something, isn't it? Or someone?"

"Maybe."

Anya grinned wider. "So who are we talking about? A new guy in your life? Or... a new girl?"

Eve shook her head, flustered. "Oh my god, no. It's not what you think."

"No? Shit, I'm being too pushy for details, aren't I?" Anya sighed. "I like this job, but I miss the sheer amount of gossip at my last one."

"I promise I'd gossip with you if I had some."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. But, like, I just slept with someone and--"

"Ooh!"

"Not like that!" Eve added quickly. "I literally just mean sleep. We slept in the same bed. That's it."

"And you're this happy afterward?"

"It... yeah. Yeah I guess I am."

"Then you still have my interest," Anya said. "But I better get back to work for now. If you can possibly think up some ways to describe this all more salaciously, please do feel free."

Eve rolled her eyes and finished up shelving her cartful of books.

She and Anya continued chatting off and on through the day. Eve deflected Anya to talking about her own love life for a bit, but honestly Eve kind of wanted to discuss her own thing, she just wasn't super comfortable with letting certain details slip out. Taken in the wrong context, it would probably sound like she wanted to fuck her brother, and she didn't need that kind of rumour haunting her.

"So you like this mystery guy, yes?" Anya said.

Eve flushed. "Well... yeah. But not in the way you're implying."

"Well I don't understand. How is it you're sleeping in bed with someone, come to work super happy afterward, and you don't even--"

"He's my brother," Eve finally blurted. She'd wanted to say it anyway, even though she was pretty sure the consequences weren't worth it.

"He's your... oh."

"We just found each other. I never knew him growing up. So, you know, it really wasn't anything more than just sleeping."

Anya's eyes were wide. "Aw, really? That's... that's kind of beautiful."

"It is?"

"Yeah. A long lost brother, and you two are bonding like that. Even sleeping together."

"Just 'cause my new bed hasn't arrived yet," Anya was quick to add.

"Sure, sure. Honestly I kind of feel sometimes like I'd like to be able to just cuddle someone without it having to be a whole thing. Like, you know, usually you have to have sex to get to the good parts."

Eve tilted her head. "That's... one way to look at it."

"Sorry, did that sound super weird when I said it? I feel like it sounded super weird."

"No, not really. I'm still the girl sleeping with her brother."

Anya giggled. "Well I might not say it like that if I was you."

Eve giggled softly too. "Good point. But, um, you don't actually have to have sex with anyone if you don't want to."

Anya nodded. "I know. But, like, I don't mind it. And like I say, you can't really get the good stuff if you don't do it. Platonic relationships don't involve a lot of cuddling and hand-holding and whispering romantic things to each other."

"That's kind of true."

"And I'm actually with a boy I really like right now. He's a total sweetie."

"Well that's good."

Anya smiled. "It is. Anyway, if it were me, I think I'd make any excuse to keep snuggling your brother. Sounds like a good thing to me, and it clearly made you happy."

"It did. You don't think that'd be weird though?"

"Maybe. But weird isn't always bad. It's just something different, and sometimes the way people do things normally isn't the best, really."

"True." Eve sighed. "I have a lot to think about."

****

"Do you ever tell people about me?" Eve asked.

"About you?" Mal asked. "Of course. You're my sister. All my friends know about you. You met a couple of them."

"Oh sure. But, like, that we slept together last night, for instance."

"No, not that. Why?"

"I might have accidentally told Anya at work today."

"Accidentally?"

"Not deliberately, I mean."

"I know what accidentally means," Mal said. "I mean why would you tell her we slept together?"

"I think I just wanted to tell someone. She knows we didn't, you know, do anything other than sleep."

"That's good."

"I think she was jealous, actually," Eve said thoughtfully. "At least a little."

"... what?"

"We'd need to talk about it more, but I think maybe she doesn't like sex that much, and the idea of someone to sleep with who doesn't want sex sounded really good to her."

"I wouldn't say I don't want sex," Mal said. "That's--"

"With me?!"

"No! Just generally, I mean. Obviously. You're my sister."

Eve shrugged. "Only by blood."

"Eve!"

"Sorry."

"If you're going to make it weird, I'll have to kick you out of bed."

Eve pouted. "You wouldn't kick your own sister out of bed, would you?"

"Try me."

Mal wasn't totally sure what was up with Eve, but he was well aware that it was a confusing time in both of their lives. He also very much didn't want to kick her out of bed, regardless of what he'd said.

Eve came and sat with him on the couch for a while. She picked his arm up, cuddled up to him, then draped his arm back around her. He let it happen, and even pulled her tighter against him as they just sat together.

"I'll be honest," Eve said after a while. "I don't think I'm really looking for a boyfriend or anything these days."

"Are you just telling me?" Mal asked. "Or... do you mean because of me?"

"The second one." Eve sighed. "I think Anya's right about some things. Like... like a lot of what I'd want from a relationship is comfort and companionship and cuddling anyway."

"And sex?"

"Well yeah, some of that, I guess. But how important is it, really?"

"Depends on who you ask, I think."

"Fair. How important is it to you?"

Mal bit his lip. "I think I feel awkward answering that question."

Eve looked at him with big, soft eyes. "Why? Don't want to talk about sex with your sister?"

"Maybe not while you're sitting so close."

"Pff. Big baby."

"Well how important is it to you then?"

Eve went quiet for a moment until Mal nudged her.

"I said--"

"I heard you," Eve said. "I... don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No."

"Have you never...."

Eve squirmed a bit. "No. Never."

"Oh."

"Is that weird?"

"I don't think so."

"I just never felt like I wanted to. Like there was someone I loved that way."

"It, uh, doesn't have to be about love," Mal pointed out.

"That's true, I guess. And honestly there have been a few people I've felt attracted to."

"Sexually?'

Eve shrugged. "They get me horny."

"That's a start."

"But I don't know. It's one thing to get horny and think about someone while I'm in bed. It's--"

"Just thinking?" Mal asked.

"What else?"

"Nothing."

"... you meant do I masturbate to anyone, didn't you?"

"Not in so many words."

Eve narrowed her eyes slightly. "Thought you didn't want to talk about this with your sister."

"I am indeed already regretting the question," Mal said. "If that's what you're implying."

"Uh huh. Anyway, I don't know. Horniness is one thing. But to actually have sex with someone... I mean there'd have to be a connection, right? Mutual attraction. Trust. Those sorts of things."

"Again, I think not always."

"Well for me there would. I... I don't necessarily get close to people easily."

"You moved in with me almost immediately," Mal said. "That was pretty easy."

"Yeah, well... you're my brother."

"Only by blood."

"It's more than that now." Eve looked at Mal. "It's more than that, right?"

Mal nodded firmly. "Definitely. You're right. But at the time that was all it was."

"True. I'm happy with how you turned out."

"Ha, same."

****

Eve crawled into bed with Mal again. They didn't discuss it, she just did it. They lay separately for a while in the dark, not speaking, just thinking.

"You know why I go by Eve?" Eve finally asked.

"... because it's your name?" Mal hazarded.

"No. Legally it's Samantha. My middle name is Evelyn."

"Oh. Hence Eve."

"Yeah. But also, like... this is gonna sound weird."

Mal turned his head toward Eve. His eyes had adjusted enough to the dark that he could see the rough outline of her face. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I wouldn't have even known Eve wasn't your name if you hadn't told me just now."

"I want to tell you."

"Ok."

"But...."

Mal rolled toward her and laid his arm across her tummy. "You can say it."

"Ok," Eve said in a smaller voice. "You know, like, the famous Eve?"

"The famous--"

"From the bible."

"Oh. That one."

"Yeah. Like the first woman, the way that story goes."

Mal nodded. "Sure. You took her name?"

"Mmhm. But it's kinda like... like Eve never had any family, right? Just one day there she is, no parents, no siblings, nothing." Eve shrugged. "It felt right."

"I can see that," Mal said. "Though one could argue she had a brother."

"How could one argue that?"

"Well... if her and Adam were both made by the same person...."

"Oh. Like they were siblings." Eve chewed on it for a moment, then giggled. "Well that'd be kinda bad. According to the story, they had kids together and everything."

"I think maybe when it's just the two of them, they maybe didn't worry so much about societal pressures and stuff."

"Is that why siblings don't have sex? Societal pressure?"

"I'm gonna be honest, I haven't given it that much thought."

"That's fair." Eve rolled on her side, facing away from Mal. "Your turn to be big spoon, by the way."

"You're one hundred percent gonna get morning wood in the butt if we do that."

"I'll live with it."

Mal only hesitated a moment. "Ok."

Eve sighed contentedly as Mal spooned up behind her. "I like being little spoon, I think."

"Everyone does. It's the better spoon."

"You don't know that."

"Maybe not." Mal wiggled and settled himself more comfortably. "I like that you told me that. About your name and all."

"You're the only person I've told."

"Mmm."

"Mal?"

"Yeah?"

"When we were talking earlier... you've had sex before, haven't you?"

Mal groaned. "You wait until now to bring that up again?"

"Apparently, yes. You don't have to answer."

"I... alright. I have a couple times. There was a girl... it didn't last, let's just say that. I think I'd be embarrassed to even mention it if you hadn't already told me you haven't been with anyone."

"Why embarrassed?"

"'Cause I haven't done much, and even the stuff I did wasn't good."

"Why would I care either way?" Eve murmured. "I could be a big ol' slut and I wouldn't care what you'd been up to. Makes no difference."

"Maybe not. That's those societal pressure popping up again, I guess."

"Sure. Pesky things, huh?"

"They can be."

The sibs went quiet for a bit, until Eve slowly smiled and spoke up again.

"Speaking of things popping up...."

Mal sighed. "Well I told you that might happen."

"You suggested it would be in the morning," Eve said.

"Yeah, well... apparently not."

"Are you still going to be able to sleep?"

"I think so. Do you want me to stay on my side of the bed?"

Eve shook her head. "No."

"Really?"

"Yeah, what, like a little erection is gonna bother me?"

"Little?!"

"Hehe, ok, a huge erection. The biggest erection the world has ever known."

"You're not making it better," Mal said.

"Genuinely it's the biggest dick I've ever had poking me while I'm trying to sleep," Eve said.

"That's... ok, enough discussing the size of my penis, thank you."

"Ok."

****

Mal was still hard the next morning. It in fact took every little bit of willpower he had not to start grinding on Eve's butt when he woke up. It would certainly have been a bit of a faux pas, he decided.

Logic dictated he should get up and go jerk off in the shower or something. Logic, unfortunately, was not winning.

Eve finally stirred, and after a little wiggling that made the both of them feel some dangerous things, she hopped out of bed and padded out of the room without a backward glance.

Mal knew he needed to check in with his sister and make sure things were ok, but before that he needed to deal with himself. He yanked the covers down, and his boxers, then wrapped his fist around his cock. It was so very needy this morning, throbbing before he even started stroking it. A function of being wedged against a girl's ass all night, he supposed.

"Hey, do you--"

Eve stopped short as she darted back into the room. Her and Mal locked eyes on each other, neither daring to move.

"Well that was quick," Eve finally said.

"Yeah, sorry," Mal said. "I... I was horny."

"From me?"

"Yeah, from you."

"Oh." Eve sneaked closer and scooted onto the bed on her knees. "You're so hard."

"Well... yeah."

Mal reached for the blanket to pull it back over himself. Eve stopped him.

"Don't cover up now," she whispered.

"Oh my god, Eve. Don't tempt me."